Primeval star Spearritt 'hoping for viewers' for series

Primeval star Hannah Spearritt says she hopes people will watch the new series when it switches from mainstream TV to digital.

The dinosaur series has had an unsteady couple of years after ITV decided it was too expensive to fund.

Due to its global popularity it was revived by several investors, including UKTV, who helped fund the latest series - the fifth.

That means its premiere is on digital TV before it's shown on ITV1 in 2012.

Spearritt, who used to be in S Club 7, plays Abby Maitland alongside real life boyfriend Andrew Lee Potts.

She's not concerned by the shift to a less viewed channel though.

She said: "You will get the avid fans who go over to Watch [the digital TV channel].

"For those who've not got Watch, it will be shown on ITV next year. The brilliant thing is we got this series made.

"I hope for Watch's sake it gets the viewers they want."

Both Hannah Spearritt and Andrew Lee Potts have been in the show since the first series.

It features a team of scientists who battle prehistoric dinosaurs and futuristic creatures and was originally shown in a prime-time slot on Saturday night.

The first two series achieved an average of more than six million viewers.

Andrew Lee Potts said: "When we started out the [viewing] figures were a lot more important than they are to us now because we wanted the show to continue.

"But because of its global popularity it's not as important now."

The show has been sold to 30 countries around the world and has a solid fan base in the US.

Hannah and Andrew also began their off-screen relationship while filming the show.

"It's important to spend time apart because we work together so much," he said.

"We want to spend time with our friends and stuff but we do attract each other.

"Give us a day apart and we do want to see each other again."

Primeval series five begins on Watch on 24 May at 8pm.